"Through this example, it proves that when we're organized, things get done," Soliz told 19 people.

Residents gathered at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall, near Avondale Street and Lova Drive, for a town hall meeting regarding the subdivision's sewer lines. Last year, they had complained about their toilets backing up.

A recently completed study paid for by Victoria showed that breaks on the city's and residents' sides of the sewer lines resulted in the problem. About 68 percent of the inflow into the sewer lines came from breaks on the city's side, the study showed.

The city has scheduled to replace the sewer lines over the next two fiscal years, budgeting about $1.77 million in its recently-passed budget for half the project. However, the plan also calls for residents to fix their side of the lines.

Yet Soliz told residents that they needed to be patient but keep on the city to ensure that it fixes all the problems. That includes water lines and the subdivision's drainage problems.

Since the pipes are underground, the street will get torn apart by the work, Soliz said. So residents would have to campaign for the streets to get replaced, too.

Alberta Moreno, who lives on Bobolink Lane, said she smelled sewage when the lines broke. She thought the smell was coming from her house and worked in a futile effort to clean the smell away.

She said that she would do her part to be organized by attending city meetings and town halls.

But Soliz wanted residents in his district to remain organized for other projects, too. He pointed out North Street, which he said would need fixing.

"We don't want to wait till the potholes turn into canyons before we actually do something about it," he said.